Papers by Linda Christiansen
The Case for Hospitality -Hospitality as a universal individual practice, 2023
A short essay discussing why hospitality should be a practice in our daily lives.
One of the greatest challenges as a Tentmaker might be to prepare well before going seeing that y... more One of the greatest challenges as a Tentmaker might be to prepare well before going seeing that you will never truly know a culture or a country before you have lived in it. Often we focus on the practicalities of moving abroad and forget the spiritual practicalities that will enable us to stand the distance over time. Building a strong payer support base is key for staying focused and staying spiritually healthy in a foreign and often hostile culture. This short essay will show how you can successfully build one before leaving and maintaining it while abroad, expanding it as you build new relations.
This thesis is about the role of the (Lutheran) Christian faith in social purpose business ven... more This thesis is about the role of the (Lutheran) Christian faith in social purpose business ventures.
These business ventures have been known as “business as mission” (BAM) businesses within the
Christian community but, so far, only limited research on the impact of these businesses has taken
place and that mostly within the Christian Community.
This thesis aims to explore the business as mission (BAM) concept, hence specifically identify the
resources and capabilities seen to be generated by faith. This thesis will also examine how these
resources and capabilities may give the BAM businesses either a competitive advantage or
disadvantage.
The data has been collected through semi-structured interviews of potential as well as actual BAM
entrepreneurs worldwide at a BAM training course in Thailand in 2008. In addition, two BAM
course teachers have been interviewed in order to build a theoretical framework of the BAM
business. Barney’s VRIN-framework was used to assess the resources and capabilities found.
Given the novelty of the BAM concept, the grounded theory approach has been applied as a
method. The findings are thus tentative and should be followed up by more research in this area as
the business as mission businesses seemingly grow towards maturity.
First, the BAM concept was examined, and then a tentative BAM definition was suggested based on
the BAM businesses analysed. A BAM business was found to be ”a social purpose business
venture motivated and driven by faith-based values and principles that has an intention to change
the lives of people spiritually, socially and economically through profit-seeking business initiatives
in the community in which it operates” (Christiansen 2008). BAM businesses were analysed to be
about social development and about bringing people to faith in general. The economic impact was
found to be questionable seeing that the BAM businesses analysed are unprofitable currently, apart
from a global investment fund. However, the lack of profitability may be due to the infant stage of
these businesses. Secondly, the resources and capabilities generated by faith were found to be the
Christian values and principles (resources) and relationship-building (capability). Thereafter, the
VRIN-framework was applied on the faith-based values and principles, and on the relationship
building capability, respectively. The resources relating to the values and principles were seen to be
a source of temporary competitive advantage whereas the relationship-building capability was
assessed to be a source of sustained competitive advantage ceteris paribus. However, more research
is needed to capture the impact of faith on social purpose business ventures and on social
entrepreneurship in general.
Executive Summary:
How Are We Doing? Measuring the Impact and Performance of BAM Businesses Bus... more Executive Summary:
How Are We Doing? Measuring the Impact and Performance of BAM Businesses Business as mission is hard. Very hard! Missionaries with little business experience but plenty of vision start businesses and struggle. Experienced business people start businesses in new countries or cultures and struggle. Too many business as mission (BAM) companies wander in the desert aimlessly. They need a compass to guide them— something to remind them of their direction and tell them if they are on track. Well designed and implemented metrics can help.
Metrics are measures. They are like the control panel on a car—the gauges, lights and dials that tell you how fast you’re going, how much fuel is left and whether you’re headed for trouble. You can drive a car without a fuel gauge or a speedometer, but you will likely run into serious trouble before too much time has passed.
The same is true for metrics in business. Without some consistently applied metrics it is very hard to know if the business is on track to achieve what it set out to do. That is dangerous for any business. However, since BAM businesses set out to bring glory to God and to expand the Kingdom of Christ, the consequences of being off track have eternal significance!
The Measuring Impact Issue Group included a number of experienced BAM entrepreneurs from restricted countries and experienced executives and coaches from a variety of backgrounds: corporate, entrepreneurial, western and eastern. Together we grappled with questions of how and what to measure in a BAM business, as well as why to measure.
We believe it is not only possible, but highly valuable for a company to have practical, intentional goals for ministry and then to evaluate (measure) their performance against these goals. We also believe it is right and appropriate for outside agents, whether owners, investors, ministries or researchers, to have tools to evaluate and compare. Benchmarking and the development of best practice indicators are valuable for the entire BAM community.
There are many pitfalls in metrics and this report attempts to highlight these. A significant issue is of course that what we call good is not always what God calls good. Collecting data is one thing, analyzing and evaluating it is quite another. We need in our evaluations to leave room for the Holy Spirit to work and to guide. Not all issues lend themselves to hard, numeric evaluation. One of our members reported a regular story telling time that allows clients to share how they were impacted by encounters with the staff. The stories themselves are a type of metric. This metric can be made more useful, however, if the stories are categorized so that trends can be tracked. Discovering which way you are moving is a valuable input.
Possibly the most important aspect of metrics is their application—what do you do with the measure after you have prepared it? Metrics should not be about punishment. In fact the best use for measures is as feedback for secure and capable leaders who want to improve. Good metrics are a compass that enables good leaders to stay on track.
Measuring BAM Impact Issue Group Report – May 2014
Executive Summary:
Scholars Needed - The Current State of Business as Mission Research Great st... more Executive Summary:
Scholars Needed - The Current State of Business as Mission Research Great strides have been made in recent years to challenge the “sacred-secular” divide that is so deeply entrenched in the church, and to raise awareness of business’ potential to serve the common good. Yet the resources produced thus far offer little in the way of practical help for Christian business professionals. Few resources—whether books, websites, blogs, etc.—go beyond what might be called “cheerleading,” that is, encouraging Christians to “take their faith to work” or to embrace business as a vehicle for positive community impact.
As valuable as such “cheerleading” may be, there is a growing chorus of complaints by practitioners and educators about the lack of helpful resources, especially the lack of rigorous research that takes an unvarnished and critical look at what’s working, what’s not, and why. This is more than an academic problem; without quality research—and the resources that are generated by it—practitioners are forced to “figure things out” on their own, and the long-term impact of business as mission (BAM) will continue to be mixed.
One way to stimulate the production of such resources is by creating an association of BAM scholars. Such an association would include outlets (scholarly conferences and journals) for such research. Another way to address this need is by drawing from the closely related field of social entrepreneurship (SE). SE is similar to BAM in its emphasis on multiple “bottom lines”. The main difference is that SE accommodates all religious perspectives, including non-religious and humanistic perspectives. Still, there is much that can be learned through respectful dialogue between the two fields, and BAM scholars should actively engage this field by attending SE conferences and contributing to SE journals.
The following review is intended to help scholars get quickly up to speed on the research that has been done and what is still needed. This report is a slightly modified republication, with permission, of an essay previously published in the Journal of Biblical Integration in Business entitled “‘Business as Mission’ Hybrids: A Review and Research Agenda.”
Scholarship and Research Issue Group Report – May 2014
Executive Summary:
No Water, No Fish Funding is Vital to Business as Mission Success and Sustain... more Executive Summary:
No Water, No Fish Funding is Vital to Business as Mission Success and Sustainability
The convening of the Business as Mission Global Think Tank and Congress marked the first time the issue of funding for business as mission (BAM) companies emerged as a focus issue on a broad-based, international level. The necessity of capital for any endeavor highlights funding as an essential component of the BAM discussion.
The objective of this report is to provide assistance to the global BAM movement by educating and motivating BAM practitioners and funders so that responsible, appropriately contextualized, innovative, and successful allocation of financial resources may be more widely achieved. The vision is for capital to flow more efficiently to BAM companies, allowing them to be more effective in transforming their spheres of influence for the greater glory of God.
Perhaps best described as being in an infancy stage, funding for BAM is quickly moving toward adolescence. It should come as no surprise that the needs, challenges and opportunities for BAM parallel those for secular global businesses. Emerging BAM funding is showing early signs of matching important, prudent, and generally accepted elements of the broad spectrum of funding types available in global financial markets.
Some critical needs were identified for business as mission funding. One area of funding need is the availability of capital to fund start-ups. Greater creativity is vital to meeting this challenge. Another area of need is for more investment-worthy companies. The continued development of excellence in business approaches and seasoned operators will increase the potential for profitability and enhance attractiveness to potential investors. Alongside this, the nonnegotiable principles of integrity in identity and practice, integration of work and ministry, and intentionality of Kingdom purpose are crucial to successfully move enterprises from start-up to sustainability.
The report observes that hybridization, as a possible way to fund a business through a strategic mixture of capital, has both positive and negative ramifications. It addresses the variables of commercial and non-commercial funding for the business and/or compensation for the practitioner from a combination of both business and donor funding.
The research presented also notes there exists a certain tension between appropriate contextualization of funding models and the need for some measure of ‘best practice’ principles which are more widely understood, embraced and implemented in the business world. This paper argues there is no ‘one size fits all’ funding template that can or should be applied to the complexities of the global BAM movement.
The key recommendations of this report include: Firstly, a need for better communication between investors, as well as between investors and BAM practitioners. Secondly, over the next few years, there is an opportunity and need to identify and replicate successful funding models. Thirdly, the way to nurture this paradigm shift in investing is to initiate dialogue around the theology of wealth and investing. Developing an archetype rooted in Scripture that integrates missional competence with commercial proficiency is essential to the shaping of expectations, motivation and furthering of the BAM movement. BAM Funding Issue Group Report – February 2015 ! Page 3
No Water, No Fish Funding is Vital to Business as Mission Success and Sustainability Introduction
A funding fable He was a simple man living a simple life. Each day he rose and went to the same job, ate the same food, and talked to the same people. One day he decided he wanted to do something different, something more for his family. He remembered a story he had once heard of someone who had caught and eaten a fish. He thought it would be a wonderful thing for his family if he could catch a fish for them to eat.
The man began asking everyone about fishing. There were many who had heard of fishing and had opinions about what he should do. There were even a couple of people who knew others who had been fishing and caught fish. He listened carefully to each of them.
The day finally came when he had applied all the things he’d heard and assembled everything everyone believed he needed to fish. He set out along the road. Not long into his journey he met a wise, aged man who asked where he was going. As he explained his desire to do something more for his family, to catch a fish for them, the sage began to shake his head in disbelief. “My son,” he said, “all the days you spent learning of fishing, all the time you’ve spent gathering what you need to fish, did you ever stop to think that there is no water here in the desert? Without water, you cannot fish.”
Water covers approximately 70 percent of the earth’s surface (Ward 2003). So it would seem that finding water is a trivial task. Yet more than 97 percent of that water is salty, and nearly 2 percent is locked up in snow and ice. That leaves less than 1 percent for the entire planet’s human consumption (McNulty 2010).
Global wealth mirrors water. A 2011 Boston Consulting Group report says 1 percent of the world’s population holds 61 percent of its wealth (Becerra 2011). Many people who want something different, something more, and many who just desire to meet basic needs, have ‘no water and cannot fish’.
What an achievement it would be if this report could answer how to move funding from areas of abundance to areas of opportunity and need. Our hope is that these pages give proven steps to improve the viability of business as mission start-ups and lower investment risk.
Different types of structures are shared in this report, best practices encouraged, lessons learned and links to a variety of resources offered. However, the question remains, where is the water to fish?
And walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers…casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.” Matthew 4:18 (NASB)
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Papers by Linda Christiansen
These business ventures have been known as “business as mission” (BAM) businesses within the
Christian community but, so far, only limited research on the impact of these businesses has taken
place and that mostly within the Christian Community.
This thesis aims to explore the business as mission (BAM) concept, hence specifically identify the
resources and capabilities seen to be generated by faith. This thesis will also examine how these
resources and capabilities may give the BAM businesses either a competitive advantage or
disadvantage.
The data has been collected through semi-structured interviews of potential as well as actual BAM
entrepreneurs worldwide at a BAM training course in Thailand in 2008. In addition, two BAM
course teachers have been interviewed in order to build a theoretical framework of the BAM
business. Barney’s VRIN-framework was used to assess the resources and capabilities found.
Given the novelty of the BAM concept, the grounded theory approach has been applied as a
method. The findings are thus tentative and should be followed up by more research in this area as
the business as mission businesses seemingly grow towards maturity.
First, the BAM concept was examined, and then a tentative BAM definition was suggested based on
the BAM businesses analysed. A BAM business was found to be ”a social purpose business
venture motivated and driven by faith-based values and principles that has an intention to change
the lives of people spiritually, socially and economically through profit-seeking business initiatives
in the community in which it operates” (Christiansen 2008). BAM businesses were analysed to be
about social development and about bringing people to faith in general. The economic impact was
found to be questionable seeing that the BAM businesses analysed are unprofitable currently, apart
from a global investment fund. However, the lack of profitability may be due to the infant stage of
these businesses. Secondly, the resources and capabilities generated by faith were found to be the
Christian values and principles (resources) and relationship-building (capability). Thereafter, the
VRIN-framework was applied on the faith-based values and principles, and on the relationship
building capability, respectively. The resources relating to the values and principles were seen to be
a source of temporary competitive advantage whereas the relationship-building capability was
assessed to be a source of sustained competitive advantage ceteris paribus. However, more research
is needed to capture the impact of faith on social purpose business ventures and on social
entrepreneurship in general.
How Are We Doing? Measuring the Impact and Performance of BAM Businesses Business as mission is hard. Very hard! Missionaries with little business experience but plenty of vision start businesses and struggle. Experienced business people start businesses in new countries or cultures and struggle. Too many business as mission (BAM) companies wander in the desert aimlessly. They need a compass to guide them— something to remind them of their direction and tell them if they are on track. Well designed and implemented metrics can help.
Metrics are measures. They are like the control panel on a car—the gauges, lights and dials that tell you how fast you’re going, how much fuel is left and whether you’re headed for trouble. You can drive a car without a fuel gauge or a speedometer, but you will likely run into serious trouble before too much time has passed.
The same is true for metrics in business. Without some consistently applied metrics it is very hard to know if the business is on track to achieve what it set out to do. That is dangerous for any business. However, since BAM businesses set out to bring glory to God and to expand the Kingdom of Christ, the consequences of being off track have eternal significance!
The Measuring Impact Issue Group included a number of experienced BAM entrepreneurs from restricted countries and experienced executives and coaches from a variety of backgrounds: corporate, entrepreneurial, western and eastern. Together we grappled with questions of how and what to measure in a BAM business, as well as why to measure.
We believe it is not only possible, but highly valuable for a company to have practical, intentional goals for ministry and then to evaluate (measure) their performance against these goals. We also believe it is right and appropriate for outside agents, whether owners, investors, ministries or researchers, to have tools to evaluate and compare. Benchmarking and the development of best practice indicators are valuable for the entire BAM community.
There are many pitfalls in metrics and this report attempts to highlight these. A significant issue is of course that what we call good is not always what God calls good. Collecting data is one thing, analyzing and evaluating it is quite another. We need in our evaluations to leave room for the Holy Spirit to work and to guide. Not all issues lend themselves to hard, numeric evaluation. One of our members reported a regular story telling time that allows clients to share how they were impacted by encounters with the staff. The stories themselves are a type of metric. This metric can be made more useful, however, if the stories are categorized so that trends can be tracked. Discovering which way you are moving is a valuable input.
Possibly the most important aspect of metrics is their application—what do you do with the measure after you have prepared it? Metrics should not be about punishment. In fact the best use for measures is as feedback for secure and capable leaders who want to improve. Good metrics are a compass that enables good leaders to stay on track.
Measuring BAM Impact Issue Group Report – May 2014
Scholars Needed - The Current State of Business as Mission Research Great strides have been made in recent years to challenge the “sacred-secular” divide that is so deeply entrenched in the church, and to raise awareness of business’ potential to serve the common good. Yet the resources produced thus far offer little in the way of practical help for Christian business professionals. Few resources—whether books, websites, blogs, etc.—go beyond what might be called “cheerleading,” that is, encouraging Christians to “take their faith to work” or to embrace business as a vehicle for positive community impact.
As valuable as such “cheerleading” may be, there is a growing chorus of complaints by practitioners and educators about the lack of helpful resources, especially the lack of rigorous research that takes an unvarnished and critical look at what’s working, what’s not, and why. This is more than an academic problem; without quality research—and the resources that are generated by it—practitioners are forced to “figure things out” on their own, and the long-term impact of business as mission (BAM) will continue to be mixed.
One way to stimulate the production of such resources is by creating an association of BAM scholars. Such an association would include outlets (scholarly conferences and journals) for such research. Another way to address this need is by drawing from the closely related field of social entrepreneurship (SE). SE is similar to BAM in its emphasis on multiple “bottom lines”. The main difference is that SE accommodates all religious perspectives, including non-religious and humanistic perspectives. Still, there is much that can be learned through respectful dialogue between the two fields, and BAM scholars should actively engage this field by attending SE conferences and contributing to SE journals.
The following review is intended to help scholars get quickly up to speed on the research that has been done and what is still needed. This report is a slightly modified republication, with permission, of an essay previously published in the Journal of Biblical Integration in Business entitled “‘Business as Mission’ Hybrids: A Review and Research Agenda.”
Scholarship and Research Issue Group Report – May 2014
No Water, No Fish Funding is Vital to Business as Mission Success and Sustainability
The convening of the Business as Mission Global Think Tank and Congress marked the first time the issue of funding for business as mission (BAM) companies emerged as a focus issue on a broad-based, international level. The necessity of capital for any endeavor highlights funding as an essential component of the BAM discussion.
The objective of this report is to provide assistance to the global BAM movement by educating and motivating BAM practitioners and funders so that responsible, appropriately contextualized, innovative, and successful allocation of financial resources may be more widely achieved. The vision is for capital to flow more efficiently to BAM companies, allowing them to be more effective in transforming their spheres of influence for the greater glory of God.
Perhaps best described as being in an infancy stage, funding for BAM is quickly moving toward adolescence. It should come as no surprise that the needs, challenges and opportunities for BAM parallel those for secular global businesses. Emerging BAM funding is showing early signs of matching important, prudent, and generally accepted elements of the broad spectrum of funding types available in global financial markets.
Some critical needs were identified for business as mission funding. One area of funding need is the availability of capital to fund start-ups. Greater creativity is vital to meeting this challenge. Another area of need is for more investment-worthy companies. The continued development of excellence in business approaches and seasoned operators will increase the potential for profitability and enhance attractiveness to potential investors. Alongside this, the nonnegotiable principles of integrity in identity and practice, integration of work and ministry, and intentionality of Kingdom purpose are crucial to successfully move enterprises from start-up to sustainability.
The report observes that hybridization, as a possible way to fund a business through a strategic mixture of capital, has both positive and negative ramifications. It addresses the variables of commercial and non-commercial funding for the business and/or compensation for the practitioner from a combination of both business and donor funding.
The research presented also notes there exists a certain tension between appropriate contextualization of funding models and the need for some measure of ‘best practice’ principles which are more widely understood, embraced and implemented in the business world. This paper argues there is no ‘one size fits all’ funding template that can or should be applied to the complexities of the global BAM movement.
The key recommendations of this report include: Firstly, a need for better communication between investors, as well as between investors and BAM practitioners. Secondly, over the next few years, there is an opportunity and need to identify and replicate successful funding models. Thirdly, the way to nurture this paradigm shift in investing is to initiate dialogue around the theology of wealth and investing. Developing an archetype rooted in Scripture that integrates missional competence with commercial proficiency is essential to the shaping of expectations, motivation and furthering of the BAM movement. BAM Funding Issue Group Report – February 2015 ! Page 3
No Water, No Fish Funding is Vital to Business as Mission Success and Sustainability Introduction
A funding fable He was a simple man living a simple life. Each day he rose and went to the same job, ate the same food, and talked to the same people. One day he decided he wanted to do something different, something more for his family. He remembered a story he had once heard of someone who had caught and eaten a fish. He thought it would be a wonderful thing for his family if he could catch a fish for them to eat.
The man began asking everyone about fishing. There were many who had heard of fishing and had opinions about what he should do. There were even a couple of people who knew others who had been fishing and caught fish. He listened carefully to each of them.
The day finally came when he had applied all the things he’d heard and assembled everything everyone believed he needed to fish. He set out along the road. Not long into his journey he met a wise, aged man who asked where he was going. As he explained his desire to do something more for his family, to catch a fish for them, the sage began to shake his head in disbelief. “My son,” he said, “all the days you spent learning of fishing, all the time you’ve spent gathering what you need to fish, did you ever stop to think that there is no water here in the desert? Without water, you cannot fish.”
Water covers approximately 70 percent of the earth’s surface (Ward 2003). So it would seem that finding water is a trivial task. Yet more than 97 percent of that water is salty, and nearly 2 percent is locked up in snow and ice. That leaves less than 1 percent for the entire planet’s human consumption (McNulty 2010).
Global wealth mirrors water. A 2011 Boston Consulting Group report says 1 percent of the world’s population holds 61 percent of its wealth (Becerra 2011). Many people who want something different, something more, and many who just desire to meet basic needs, have ‘no water and cannot fish’.
What an achievement it would be if this report could answer how to move funding from areas of abundance to areas of opportunity and need. Our hope is that these pages give proven steps to improve the viability of business as mission start-ups and lower investment risk.
Different types of structures are shared in this report, best practices encouraged, lessons learned and links to a variety of resources offered. However, the question remains, where is the water to fish?
And walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers…casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.” Matthew 4:18 (NASB)
These business ventures have been known as “business as mission” (BAM) businesses within the
Christian community but, so far, only limited research on the impact of these businesses has taken
place and that mostly within the Christian Community.
This thesis aims to explore the business as mission (BAM) concept, hence specifically identify the
resources and capabilities seen to be generated by faith. This thesis will also examine how these
resources and capabilities may give the BAM businesses either a competitive advantage or
disadvantage.
The data has been collected through semi-structured interviews of potential as well as actual BAM
entrepreneurs worldwide at a BAM training course in Thailand in 2008. In addition, two BAM
course teachers have been interviewed in order to build a theoretical framework of the BAM
business. Barney’s VRIN-framework was used to assess the resources and capabilities found.
Given the novelty of the BAM concept, the grounded theory approach has been applied as a
method. The findings are thus tentative and should be followed up by more research in this area as
the business as mission businesses seemingly grow towards maturity.
First, the BAM concept was examined, and then a tentative BAM definition was suggested based on
the BAM businesses analysed. A BAM business was found to be ”a social purpose business
venture motivated and driven by faith-based values and principles that has an intention to change
the lives of people spiritually, socially and economically through profit-seeking business initiatives
in the community in which it operates” (Christiansen 2008). BAM businesses were analysed to be
about social development and about bringing people to faith in general. The economic impact was
found to be questionable seeing that the BAM businesses analysed are unprofitable currently, apart
from a global investment fund. However, the lack of profitability may be due to the infant stage of
these businesses. Secondly, the resources and capabilities generated by faith were found to be the
Christian values and principles (resources) and relationship-building (capability). Thereafter, the
VRIN-framework was applied on the faith-based values and principles, and on the relationship
building capability, respectively. The resources relating to the values and principles were seen to be
a source of temporary competitive advantage whereas the relationship-building capability was
assessed to be a source of sustained competitive advantage ceteris paribus. However, more research
is needed to capture the impact of faith on social purpose business ventures and on social
entrepreneurship in general.
How Are We Doing? Measuring the Impact and Performance of BAM Businesses Business as mission is hard. Very hard! Missionaries with little business experience but plenty of vision start businesses and struggle. Experienced business people start businesses in new countries or cultures and struggle. Too many business as mission (BAM) companies wander in the desert aimlessly. They need a compass to guide them— something to remind them of their direction and tell them if they are on track. Well designed and implemented metrics can help.
Metrics are measures. They are like the control panel on a car—the gauges, lights and dials that tell you how fast you’re going, how much fuel is left and whether you’re headed for trouble. You can drive a car without a fuel gauge or a speedometer, but you will likely run into serious trouble before too much time has passed.
The same is true for metrics in business. Without some consistently applied metrics it is very hard to know if the business is on track to achieve what it set out to do. That is dangerous for any business. However, since BAM businesses set out to bring glory to God and to expand the Kingdom of Christ, the consequences of being off track have eternal significance!
The Measuring Impact Issue Group included a number of experienced BAM entrepreneurs from restricted countries and experienced executives and coaches from a variety of backgrounds: corporate, entrepreneurial, western and eastern. Together we grappled with questions of how and what to measure in a BAM business, as well as why to measure.
We believe it is not only possible, but highly valuable for a company to have practical, intentional goals for ministry and then to evaluate (measure) their performance against these goals. We also believe it is right and appropriate for outside agents, whether owners, investors, ministries or researchers, to have tools to evaluate and compare. Benchmarking and the development of best practice indicators are valuable for the entire BAM community.
There are many pitfalls in metrics and this report attempts to highlight these. A significant issue is of course that what we call good is not always what God calls good. Collecting data is one thing, analyzing and evaluating it is quite another. We need in our evaluations to leave room for the Holy Spirit to work and to guide. Not all issues lend themselves to hard, numeric evaluation. One of our members reported a regular story telling time that allows clients to share how they were impacted by encounters with the staff. The stories themselves are a type of metric. This metric can be made more useful, however, if the stories are categorized so that trends can be tracked. Discovering which way you are moving is a valuable input.
Possibly the most important aspect of metrics is their application—what do you do with the measure after you have prepared it? Metrics should not be about punishment. In fact the best use for measures is as feedback for secure and capable leaders who want to improve. Good metrics are a compass that enables good leaders to stay on track.
Measuring BAM Impact Issue Group Report – May 2014
Scholars Needed - The Current State of Business as Mission Research Great strides have been made in recent years to challenge the “sacred-secular” divide that is so deeply entrenched in the church, and to raise awareness of business’ potential to serve the common good. Yet the resources produced thus far offer little in the way of practical help for Christian business professionals. Few resources—whether books, websites, blogs, etc.—go beyond what might be called “cheerleading,” that is, encouraging Christians to “take their faith to work” or to embrace business as a vehicle for positive community impact.
As valuable as such “cheerleading” may be, there is a growing chorus of complaints by practitioners and educators about the lack of helpful resources, especially the lack of rigorous research that takes an unvarnished and critical look at what’s working, what’s not, and why. This is more than an academic problem; without quality research—and the resources that are generated by it—practitioners are forced to “figure things out” on their own, and the long-term impact of business as mission (BAM) will continue to be mixed.
One way to stimulate the production of such resources is by creating an association of BAM scholars. Such an association would include outlets (scholarly conferences and journals) for such research. Another way to address this need is by drawing from the closely related field of social entrepreneurship (SE). SE is similar to BAM in its emphasis on multiple “bottom lines”. The main difference is that SE accommodates all religious perspectives, including non-religious and humanistic perspectives. Still, there is much that can be learned through respectful dialogue between the two fields, and BAM scholars should actively engage this field by attending SE conferences and contributing to SE journals.
The following review is intended to help scholars get quickly up to speed on the research that has been done and what is still needed. This report is a slightly modified republication, with permission, of an essay previously published in the Journal of Biblical Integration in Business entitled “‘Business as Mission’ Hybrids: A Review and Research Agenda.”
Scholarship and Research Issue Group Report – May 2014
No Water, No Fish Funding is Vital to Business as Mission Success and Sustainability
The convening of the Business as Mission Global Think Tank and Congress marked the first time the issue of funding for business as mission (BAM) companies emerged as a focus issue on a broad-based, international level. The necessity of capital for any endeavor highlights funding as an essential component of the BAM discussion.
The objective of this report is to provide assistance to the global BAM movement by educating and motivating BAM practitioners and funders so that responsible, appropriately contextualized, innovative, and successful allocation of financial resources may be more widely achieved. The vision is for capital to flow more efficiently to BAM companies, allowing them to be more effective in transforming their spheres of influence for the greater glory of God.
Perhaps best described as being in an infancy stage, funding for BAM is quickly moving toward adolescence. It should come as no surprise that the needs, challenges and opportunities for BAM parallel those for secular global businesses. Emerging BAM funding is showing early signs of matching important, prudent, and generally accepted elements of the broad spectrum of funding types available in global financial markets.
Some critical needs were identified for business as mission funding. One area of funding need is the availability of capital to fund start-ups. Greater creativity is vital to meeting this challenge. Another area of need is for more investment-worthy companies. The continued development of excellence in business approaches and seasoned operators will increase the potential for profitability and enhance attractiveness to potential investors. Alongside this, the nonnegotiable principles of integrity in identity and practice, integration of work and ministry, and intentionality of Kingdom purpose are crucial to successfully move enterprises from start-up to sustainability.
The report observes that hybridization, as a possible way to fund a business through a strategic mixture of capital, has both positive and negative ramifications. It addresses the variables of commercial and non-commercial funding for the business and/or compensation for the practitioner from a combination of both business and donor funding.
The research presented also notes there exists a certain tension between appropriate contextualization of funding models and the need for some measure of ‘best practice’ principles which are more widely understood, embraced and implemented in the business world. This paper argues there is no ‘one size fits all’ funding template that can or should be applied to the complexities of the global BAM movement.
The key recommendations of this report include: Firstly, a need for better communication between investors, as well as between investors and BAM practitioners. Secondly, over the next few years, there is an opportunity and need to identify and replicate successful funding models. Thirdly, the way to nurture this paradigm shift in investing is to initiate dialogue around the theology of wealth and investing. Developing an archetype rooted in Scripture that integrates missional competence with commercial proficiency is essential to the shaping of expectations, motivation and furthering of the BAM movement. BAM Funding Issue Group Report – February 2015 ! Page 3
No Water, No Fish Funding is Vital to Business as Mission Success and Sustainability Introduction
A funding fable He was a simple man living a simple life. Each day he rose and went to the same job, ate the same food, and talked to the same people. One day he decided he wanted to do something different, something more for his family. He remembered a story he had once heard of someone who had caught and eaten a fish. He thought it would be a wonderful thing for his family if he could catch a fish for them to eat.
The man began asking everyone about fishing. There were many who had heard of fishing and had opinions about what he should do. There were even a couple of people who knew others who had been fishing and caught fish. He listened carefully to each of them.
The day finally came when he had applied all the things he’d heard and assembled everything everyone believed he needed to fish. He set out along the road. Not long into his journey he met a wise, aged man who asked where he was going. As he explained his desire to do something more for his family, to catch a fish for them, the sage began to shake his head in disbelief. “My son,” he said, “all the days you spent learning of fishing, all the time you’ve spent gathering what you need to fish, did you ever stop to think that there is no water here in the desert? Without water, you cannot fish.”
Water covers approximately 70 percent of the earth’s surface (Ward 2003). So it would seem that finding water is a trivial task. Yet more than 97 percent of that water is salty, and nearly 2 percent is locked up in snow and ice. That leaves less than 1 percent for the entire planet’s human consumption (McNulty 2010).
Global wealth mirrors water. A 2011 Boston Consulting Group report says 1 percent of the world’s population holds 61 percent of its wealth (Becerra 2011). Many people who want something different, something more, and many who just desire to meet basic needs, have ‘no water and cannot fish’.
What an achievement it would be if this report could answer how to move funding from areas of abundance to areas of opportunity and need. Our hope is that these pages give proven steps to improve the viability of business as mission start-ups and lower investment risk.
Different types of structures are shared in this report, best practices encouraged, lessons learned and links to a variety of resources offered. However, the question remains, where is the water to fish?
And walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers…casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.” Matthew 4:18 (NASB)